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NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: Four-cylinder Range Rover Sport confirmed
New lightweight Rangie Sport to get same 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine as Ford FalconLand Rover has confirmed its first ever four-cylinder Range Rover Sport will tip the scales at under 2000kg, but it is at least two years away from arriving in Australia.
During the media launch of the new second-generation Rangie Sport at a special event in New York City, Chief Engineer for the Range Rover Sport program, Stuart Frith, let slip that a four-cylinder Rangie Sport was under development.
"One of the real targets was to make sure at least one of the [Range Rover Sport] derivatives was a sub two-tonne car," said Frith. "If you factor the downsizing of the engine for the I4 that will be available, you actually manage to save over 500kg."
Frith later confided to motoring.com.au that the four-cylinder engine in question was the same Si4 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine from the Range Rover Evoque – an engine which is also used in the Ford Falcon EcoBoost large car made in Australia.
It's not yet clear when the four-cylinder Range Rover Sport will debut, but Frith told motoring.com.au the engine is being "completely recalibrated for the characteristics of the car" and that it's a "big engineering exercise to do that".
The lightweight Range Rover Sport is almost certain to be equipped with the Range Rover's just-announced nine-speed automatic gearbox, but engine power and torque of 177kW/340Nm won't change much.
"Engine tune will be roughly the same as Evoque," Frith revealed.
The British SUV maker's top brass were tight-lipped about the launch date of the new 2.0-litre Range Rover Sport, and Land Rover Australia's Brand Manager Tim Krieger told motoring.com.au that it was "at least a couple of years away" from launching Down Under.
"Obviously we would consider it," said Krieger of the SUV, "but for us it's not something that's on the product plan as yet."
While the turbo-diesel hybrid Range Rover Sport is expected to arrive locally late this year it's not going to be a big seller due to an expected high price, whereas a downsized four-cylinder model would be more affordable and potentially more popular.
"Hybrid will be a relatively small seller," said Krieger of the diesel-electric Rangie Sport in the Australian market, agreeing that a four-cylinder Range Rover Sport would contribute more to overall sales.
"If you look at the way the market is moving towards smaller fuel efficient engines, we would have a good strong look at the four-cylinder petrol engine."
Currently the Range Rover Sport is offered with V6 and V8 engines and has a brawny image, which begs the question, would a four-cylinder Rangie Sport hurt the brand's performance image?
"You would need to assess what credentials you get out of that engine," stated Krieger. "You obviously don’t want to dilute the brand's DNA, but again it just depends on what that engine has to offer."
For the latest New York motor show news at motoring.com.au
Photo gallery of 2013 New York motor show at motoring.com.au
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Written byFeann Torr
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